He shook his head. "They aren't normally in this forest, so I won't know how many there are usually." He stood up after resting a bit. "Alright, so we're about an hour away from the gate now." He started off towards the Shrine of C.C. again, the glow of flames near their destination from all the Phoenixes around there.

"I would like to say peaceful, but lately there has been quite a lot of conflict." Veronica muttered. "Humans are not the most peaceful race and they fight over the most trivial things." She took another look around the forest.

"I see." They finally made it out of the forest and were about 10 minutes away from the shrine, but as they were getting closer the heat was increasing. He sheathed his swords and looked to Veronica. "If something is happening there I can help, I'm not really afraid of dying...entirely."

"It's part of my nature to protect people." He slowed down as they came to a hill that would take a bit of a climb. "We're almost there, but it's going to be really hot around here, due to the amount of Phoenixes there are." He looked at her. "Just want you to be prepared for that."

Veronica nodded. She had trained in harsher conditions, so she was unworried about any potential heat. If it grew unbearable she would take off her combat vest at most. That being said, she felt venerable without it.